This 4 hours jeep tour covers the ancient sites of the Timna Valley and the scenic desert views of the Southern Negev and Arava Valley.

The picturesque Timna Valley is a UNESCO site of historical importance. It’s copper mines are amongst the earliest in the world and date back 6,000 years. Famous sights within the Timna Valley include Solomon’s Pillars, the Egyptian Temple, the Mushroom and ancient rock inscriptions. We see the dramatic scenery and fascinating sites while learning about the remarkable people who survived these stark conditions to produce copper for Egypt’s pharaohs.

We leave Timna and ride south taking in the spectacular desert scenery. We tour the highlights of the Arava Valley: The Flamingo pools, the Dom Palms and the spring of Ein Evrona. The tour is in open 4×4 jeeps with soft tops and the number of participants is limited to preserve the quality of the tour.

A fascinating desert tour, steeped in history, with some of Israel’s finest desert scenery.

This highly popular 4 hour sunset tour explores the changing scenery of the desert as day turns into night. It covers some of the finest desert scenery in the area during the most picturesque hours of the desert.

The tour gets off road along the most dramatic 4×4 routes and takes in the highlights of the desert surrounding Eilat which boasts some of the most remarkable desert scenery of the Negev Desert. We visit along the way many of the best known sights such as the Flamingo Pools, the Doum Palms, Evrona spring, Wadi Raham and the Statue Valley. As the sun goes down the desert comes to life and we look out for the nocturnal wildlife including gazelles, Ibexes, wolves and hyenas. We take a break to enjoy desert style hospitality and while Bedouin pita bread and sweet desert tea is prepared on a small campfire your guide will share some fascinating insights into the history and geology of the area. As the tour ends we join the main road for a short drive back to Eilat.

We begin the one day Petra Tour from hotels in Eilat around 6.50 to ensure we are amongst the first to arrive at the border crossing.

With so much to see in Petra it’s essential we make the very best of our time there. To ensure a successful tour we collect early from hotels, around 7.00am and accompany participants through the border procedures. We also send all passport details ahead to make sure we have no delays and that our groups are the very first at and through the border terminal.

Since our tours are exclusively Desert Eco Tours there is no waiting around for other companies to turn up and we also limit tour places to ensure our tours run smoothly and spend more time covering the sights in Petra, approx. 4 –5 hours.

Once through the border and on route to Petra and you are provided with bottled mineral water. It is not formally permitted to take food or drink into Jordan but tucking a small snack into your bag doesn’t typically present a problem and it may come in handy on the way.

You now begin the two-hour drive to Petra that takes you by the famous Wadi Rum. Your specialist guide will give you an in-depth briefing on the history of Jordan and its culture, as well as the background on the remarkable sights you will see during your trip. As we pass Wadi Rum the red desert scenery is particularly striking, this is where TE Lawrence was based during the Arab revolt and the epic movie about him ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ was filmed here. Nearing Petra we stop at a viewpoint overlooking the town of Wadi Musa (Moses Valley) and on a hilltop in the distance we can see the shrine marking the grave of Moses’ brother, Aaron.

After arriving at Petra’s entrance, we walk to the Siq Canyon. Horses are available for this short walk but a tip is expected from the handlers of $5 minimum. We strongly advise participants to walk with their tour guide to the Siq rather than use the horses.

On route into Petra we see our first points of interest; the ‘Silica Quarries, the ‘Jinn Blocks’ and the first large site the ‘Obelisk Tomb’. At the entrance to the Siq we see the stone dam that protects Petra from floods and the ancient drainage channels of the site. Over the Siq are the remains of the Arch that marked the entrance to Petra and the beginning of Petra’s ingenious water system that runs the whole length of the canyon. Within the Siq Canyon itself we find several deities and ancient carvings adorning its towering canyon walls. As the canyon ends we see Petra’s most renowned and astonishing monument ‘The Treasury’ (Khazneh). Here we take a few minutes for photographs before continuing our tour along the impressive Street of Facades towards the Nabataean Theater. We also get an impression of some of the most famous burial sites like the ‘Royal Tombs’. If time allows we can walk along the Colonnade Street and visit the Great Temple before heading back to the Siq Canyon and Petra’s entrance. Following the tour, we take a late lunch at an authentic Jordanian restaurant in Wadi Mussa, remember that drinks are not included in the tour price, which is standard practice. Following our late lunch, we head back to Aqaba and Eilat, on route we see the sunset over Wadi Rum and if we have a spare few minutes we stop briefly at Aqaba’s colorful Arabian market (souq). After a brief drive through Jordan’s only port city we head to the border and back to Eilat by evening.Note: El Deir (the Monastery) is available only on private tours due to limited time.